


Heart and Soul

by bitofageek



Series: Soul [1]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, BAMF Tony Stark, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Tony Stark, Infinity Gems, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sacrifice, Soul Stone (Marvel), Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 15:10:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16088648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitofageek/pseuds/bitofageek
Summary: Thanos destroyed the world in a blink of an eye. Tony isn't going to sit and take it.





	Heart and Soul

Tony and Nebula watched in horror as their families dissolved in front of them. Gone to ash in seconds. No pain they had ever felt came close - not even the slice in Tony's side. It could be killing him but he could barely feel it through the grief.

They sat in shocked silence, trying to process everything. They'd been SO close to defeating Thanos - until they'd learned of his murder of Gamora. The bastard had killed a person he claimed to "love" and Quill's grief had broken their hold on the mad titan, enabling him to take the Time Stone and escape.

"For fucks sake", Tony thought to himself, the loss of Peter tearing at his heart, "how the son of a bitch could claim to have loved his child and deliberately taken her life... he was lying to himself about...."

Something clicked in Tony's head. He turned to Nebula "You know where the soul stone was". She nodded. "We need to go there."

Somehow they managed to get the wreck of their ship working, barely speaking as they worked. Nebula had watched the human fight her "father". She'd never seen anything like that. Tony had been determined in the face of certain death, fighting with every breath for every second to stop him. She could not understand why they were on this mission to Vormir, but she would stay with this human and see it through.

***

They arrived at Vormir and climbed the trail to the Keeper of the soul stone. Once again the Keeper spoke of the terrible price to be paid and the sacrifice to be made. “In order to take the stone, one must lose that which one loves. A soul for a soul”.

Gamora’s body was visible on the stone below. Nebula, who hadn’t cried since she was a child, felt her eyes burning with unshed tears. Tony’s face was a mixture of grief and pain… and anger.

“It wasn’t love,” Tony said suddenly, softly, directing his statement to the keeper. Nebula, still overcome with grief, didn’t notice.

The Keeper looked at him; curious...puzzled. “A sacrifice was made. The stone was taken”.

Tony stared over the cliff's edge at the broken figure on the rocks below. “He may have loved her in some way," he looked back at the Keeper, "He loved himself more.”

Tony paused, “He didn’t love enough - not enough to keep the stone.” It wasn’t a question.  Nebula turned toward them, finally becoming aware of their conversation.

The Keeper’s eyes widened with surprise; then he nodded imperceptibly.

Tony turned to Nebula and gave her a small smile, “make sure everyone’s OK.”  

And he stepped over the edge.

**Author's Note:**

> Dear readers - thank you for your kudos!  
> A part of me wants a happy ending... but I like how this ending feels. 
> 
> For the happy ending lovers ;) I wrote a companion piece instead of a second chapter. Let me know what you think :)


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